Pallet



y 19531 P. s. BOLTON HAL 2 55 PALLET Filed Oct. 22, 1946' 2 Sheets-Sheetl INVENTORS PHILiP 5. BOLTON a JOSEPHJ AID P. S. OLTQN ETALH JmEy w,1951 PALLET 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 22, 1946 A \INVENTORS PHILIP S.B 0L ro/v JOSEPH J I A RNEY Patented July 10, 1951- g PALLET Philip s.Bolton, Newton, Mass and Joseph J. Aid, New London, Conn., assignors toRobert Gair Company, Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of DelawareApplication October 22, 1946, Serial No. 704,870

2 Claims. (Cl. 248-120)' were to be fitted into a box car or hold of aship for transportation. In fact the designing of most containers hasbeen the last step in the production and handling of new merchandise.

During the war the United States Navy made an entirely new approach tocontainer design by relating it specifically to the materials handlingproblem. This new approach resulted in the perfection of the so-calledpalletized load. The use of pallets is not new, but never before havetheir full possibilities been so thoroughly explored. The urgency of warforced the Navy to carry the idea through to its logical conclusion.Containers were designed to fit the box car rather than to fit thecontents, and these containers were loaded on standard sized pallets 4'foot square. The pallet has two parallel horizontal surfaces and thuscan be handled by a fork truck, usually equipped with elevatorapparatus, or by apparatus whose construction provides forks which canenter the pallet and lift the'load for stacking in tiers.

Some of the economies resulting from the use of such palletized loadswere almost unbelievable. For example, before the new system was adoptedit took 14 men half a day to break out of stowage and load a carhandling each container separately. With the palletized load one womanon a fork truck could load the same car in less than two hours. Yet inspite of this economy in handling, considerable resistance has beenencountered in converting peacetime industry to the idea of making sorevolutionary a change as that adopted by the Navy under the stress ofwar. For one thing, industry must take into account the cost of thepallets. The Navy was able to use pallets constructed of wood and it wasnot considered necessary that these be returned for re-use. The costfactor now looms large and it is a particular object of the presentinvention to our invention to provide an improved expendable orthrow-away pallet.

In the drawings illustrating our invention:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a palletized load employing a pallet ofour preferred design.

Figs. 2, 3 and 4 are details in perspective of this same pallet. Fig. 2shows one corner of the pallet with portions of the top and bottom coversheets broken away to reveal the construction more clearly. Fig. 3 is adetail of one of the strengthening inserts employed in the construction,and Fig. 4 shows how this insert is fitted into the end of one of thetubular supports of the pallet, a portion of this tubular support beingbroken away to reveal this more clearly.

Figs. 5 to 8 inclusive illustrate a modified construction, Fig. 5showing the complete palletized load, Fig. 6 a detail in perspective ofone of the pallet supports or runners, Fig. 7 a detail of one end ofthis support to an-enlarged scale, and Fig. 8 a detail of one of thestrengthening inserts for this support.

Reference will first be made to the preferred construction shown inFigs. 1 to 4 inclusive. Our pallet comprises, in its generalarrangement, supports in the form of hollow rectangular paper tubes 9arranged in spaced parallel relationship and stiff paper sheets I0secured to either side provide an inexpensive pallet to take the placeof the wood pallet. Accordingly we have devised a pallet which can beconstructed entirely of paper and yet has the strength to support loadson the order of 2000 pounds and capable of being stacked safely in tiersthree high.

The manufacturing cost of our new pallet is sufficiently low that it canbe thrown away after one use and need not be returned to the originalshipping point. In fact it has been an object of agrammatically in dotdash lines.

of these tubes as by means of glue, staples or nails. The pallet restson the floor of the warehouse or box car or on the top of another load,and supports the load a which is indicated di- Rectangular insert blocksH fit tightly into the ends of tubes 9 and reinforce them againstcollapsing under the influence of forces out of line with the vertical.

The hollow rectangular tubes 9 each comprises a length of paper wound intight layers bonded together. Also in our preferred construction therectangular inserts I I are formed of paper wound in layers bondedtogether to form a hollow tube. These inserts are assembled with thesupports 9 with their axes at right angles to the axis of the tube intowhich they are fitted, as clearly shown in Fig. 4.

In the modified construction shown in Figs. 5 to 8 inclusive, the load bis of such a nature as to be capable of support on twoor more spaced"runners l2 which are used without the stiff paper sheets I0 describedwith reference to Fig. 1. For example, a load of rigid form, or onehaving long cartons c arranged at the top and bottom can advantageouslybe supported in this manner. The runners or supports I2 comprise alength of paper wound in tight layers bonded together in the mannerwhich has been described with reference to supports]. In the particularconstruction here shown, the supports are of somewhat flat rectangularform in cross-section rather than of the square form shown in Fig. 2. Itwill be appreciated that the form 'of these supports is something whichis subject to some variation.

After the load has been assembled on the supports l2, strapping wires,flat steel bands l3, or other means for tying the load together arepassed through the hollow interior of each support, thence around theload, and are secured at M in any suitable manner, for example, by meansof a metal seal. Thereafter the reinforcing inserts l 5, which may beconstructed of paper wound into tubular form as has been described withreference to insert ll (Fig. 3), are placed in each end of the supportsas illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7. These inserts should fit snugly toafiord maximum reinforcement against collapse under any stresses whichmay be applied at an angle to the vertical.

The securing straps l3 may, if desired, be employed in conjunction withthe pallet and load illustrated in Fig. 1 and the manner of such application will be understood from the preceding description of Figs. to8 inclusive.

Figs. 2, 3 and 8 illustrate paper tubes as used for supports andinserts, and wound into convolute form from a single sheet of paper. Byreason of the limitations of pen and ink drawing the thickness of thepaper layers has necessarily been somewhat exaggerated as has also thethick- I ness of the walls of the hollow rectangular tubes themselves.Actually we have found that 10 or 12 layers of paper are quite suitablewhich, when made of 16 point chip, will produce a wall thickness ofapproximately inch. The corners of the tubes may be rounded to a certainextent. The amount of paper or board per unit length of support and thenumber of supports per pallet will vary according to the loadspecifications. In order further to assist others in the practice ofthis invention, it can be stated that we have had good results withsupports wound on a mandrel the cross-section of which is 3" x 3", using16 point chip, with an ordinary glue for the adhesive. With thesesupports we have employed inserts wound on a mandrel whose cross-sectionis 2 2" x 2% to produce inserts having a crosssection of 3" x 3" overall. These inserts are wound in the form of a long tube which is thencut to approximately 3 lengths for insertion into the ends of thesupports with the axis of the inserts arranged vertically or at rightangles to the axis of the supports. These inserts may be used in onlythe four extreme corners or they may be used in the ends of each of tliesupports, or if desired, two or more inserts may be inserted into eachend of a support. However it has been our experience that one insert ineach end of a support is entirely adequate and serves to eliminate anytendency for rolling or leaning when the pressure on the pallet is otherthan perpendicular as would be the case when a side pressure is createdby the swaying of a car during .transit. For the sheets 10 we-havespecified 60 point chip although-paperboard of other weights may beemployed if desired.

The drawings illustrate the application of our invention inthe-construction o! a 4' x 4' pallet.

Fig. 1 indicates this pallet loaded with 12 x 16" cases. With thespecific construction shown in Fig. 1, a three prong fork truck would beused to lift the pallet, spaces 6" wide being provided for of more than2000 pounds per pallet when stacked in three-high tiers.

The terms and expressions which we have employed are used in adescriptive and not a limiting sense, and we have no intention ofexcluding such equivalents of the invention described, or of portionsthereof, as fall within the purview of the claims.

We claim:

1. A support for palletized loads comprising a hollow tube of generallyrectangular form built up of many layers of paper tightly bondedtogether, and rectangular inserts arranged to fit tightly into the endsof said tubes, said inserts being in the form of hollow paper tubesarranged with their axes at right angles to the axis of the tube intowhich they are fitted.

2. A pallet comprising supports in the form of hollow rectangular papertubes arranged in spaced parallel relationship, rectangular insertsarranged to fit tightly into the ends of said tubes, and stiif papersheets secured to either side of said tubes, both the tubes and theinserts being formed of paper wound in layers bonded together, and theaxes of the tubes and inserts being arranged at right angles to oneanother.

PHILIP S. BOLTON. JOSEPH J. AID.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,407,073 Lyons Feb. 21, 19221,754,784 Borsodi Apr. 15, 1930 1,931,458 Lang Oct. 17, 1933 2,159,622Sanford May 23, 1939 2,159,948 Hatch May 23, 1939 2,388,730 Fallert Nov.13, 1945 2,444,183 Cahners June 29, 1948 2,446,914 Fallert et a1 Aug.10, 1948

